It Could Be More | ✔

23. Impulsive

Liah and I made pancakes after we woke up and unburied ourselves from the destroyed pillow fort. It was after twelve, but breakfast in the afternoon tasted just as good as it did in the morning.

Liah's plate was more syrup than pancake as she settled in next to me at the kitchen table. My mom had left for work, but not before leaving a list of chores for me to find stuck the refrigerator door with a magnet. Thanksgiving was tomorrow, and that meant cleaning every square inch of the house.

"Call Corey," she demanded, spearing one of her pancakes. She tried to make it heart shaped, but it looked more like a blob. "We have to get everything sorted before the weekend."

It was Wednesday, the last day Corey and I had to be together before things got too complicated with family coming over and school starting back. I didn't even know if he still wanted to be with me after last night.

"Have you talked to Vik?" I asked, eating a raspberry from my plate. I was stalling. I heard her on the phone with him while I brushed my teeth that morning.

They were the type to text each other good morning and good night. Corey and I didn't do that. Was that a bad sign? Shouldn't we have wanted to talk to each other the second we woke up?

"I called him earlier and he said it was okay," she told me. "Actually, he almost sounded relieved. Maybe I was wrong about him wanting to have sex."

A weekend with Corey and no prying eyes sounded amazing. But my stomach knotted up. Did he even want to spend it with me?

Liah was enjoying her soggy pancakes when her phone rang, a custom tone that she had for her parents. She glared at the phone on the table, but didn't pick up. "Four adults in that house right now, and I still can't get twenty-four hours to myself."

All I could do was offer a sympathetic smile. "At least they're letting you take the weekend off."

She finished off her food and began clearing her dishes from the table. "Who said anything about letting?"

"They don't know?" I asked, following her into the kitchen with my own dishes.

"Not exactly..." she said, slipping her plate into the dishwasher. "When Vik asked, I just said yes without thinking."

I grinned at that. It was nice to know I wasn't the only one losing all rationale in the presence of a cute guy. "So, you were planning on running away?"

She tugged the end of one of her braids. "I guess. Yeah. We need to come up with a lie. We can't exactly tell our parents were spending the weekend with our boyfriends."

I nodded. "We'll think of something. You need this weekend more than anyone."

As if on cue, her phone rang again. She answered that time, telling her mom that she was on her way home. I put the rest of the dishes in the dishwasher. When the cycle started, I grabbed my own phone from the table.

Liah had grabbed her bag and was halfway out the door when she mouthed "call him," before closing the door behind her.

I pulled up Corey's contact information. Instead of calling, I sent a text. Ten minutes later he was on my porch, wearing of his many matching sweat suits. This one was a burn orange color.

Nerves fluttered in my belly like giant birds as he stepped into the house. I couldn't get a read on him. He was upset about last night, he had to be.

"Corey, I--"

"Gray called me."

My heart leaped to my throat. "He did? Why? Does he know?"

Corey watched me for a beat and I wished his mom was there so she could tell me what his expression meant. "No. I don't think. He wanted to know my parent's shoe sizes."